‘The Wizard and the Prophet’ is an excellent book. The author, Charles Mann, describes the life work of Norman Borlaug, who was influential in what we now call the Green Revolution in agriculture, and the life work of William Vogt, who believed we need to recognize that we cannot have indefinite population and economic growth in a finite world, and who was influential in the environmental movement. Borlaug believed we could produce our way out of trouble, so he is the Wizard, and Vogt believed we need to look ahead and steer away from the risk of overshoot and disaster, and so is the Prophet. Mann, believes that both men are partly right, and writes about the Green Revolution and environmental matters in an even handed way.

Mann organizes his book around the ancient division of the world into Earth, Water, Fire and Air. Earth is soil, water is fresh water, Fire is energy sources, and Air is considered because of climate change caused by the burning of fossil fuels.

I borrowed a copy from my town library, and the library code, presumably the same world wide, is 363.7